Nothing in this life worth having is going to be easy. You’ve got to work for it. You’re going to have to sacrifice your easy, comfortable lifestyle to get what you want in the gym and life. You’re going to have to lift more weight, and move faster today than you did yesterday if you want to make progress. Anyone who is promising you “easy”, is trying to make an easy dollar off you. Don’t settle for easy. Demand results. CrossFit Missoula produces results though it’s never easy. The only easy day was yesterday.

Training does not have to be fancy, and you do not need a lot of equipment. What you do need is something heavier than the desire for comfort pulling on you. You need a purpose. You have to have a reason, other than for yourself, for being at the gym at 04:30 in the morning grinding away in the quiet dark alone. When missing a workout feels like breaking a promise or getting caught in a lie, you are training with a goal driven purpose, and you will never miss a workout again. What’s your purpose for training?

One of the three prescriptions of CrossFit is variance. Can you name the other two? Along with the obvious variations in workout parameters (e.g. duration, volume, load), what about other not so obvious possibilities.

Have you ever trained in a fasted state? Do you always train indoors, or do you take your workouts outdoors? Have you ever trained in your street clothes? Have you ever gotten up in the middle of the night to hit a WOD?

Begin looking at your training with an objective eye. Identify your routines, and seek ways to break those habits with something new and different.

Research fraud and misconduct are as old as the scientific method itself. Most of the time, it is a simple matter of human error. However, when it’s not an accident. When it is the intention of the parties involved to use science as a tool for personal gain and profit, punishment should be severe.

Curtis hammering out double-unders during the CrossFit Games Open 15.3.

Tell us a little something about yourself: Where are you from? What do you do for work and fun? What is your sports & fitness background?
I grew up in Reno, NV and sports & fitness have always been an important part of my life. I played baseball through high school and have always been active hiking, mountain biking, skiing and all the other fun activities that come with living in the mountains. I’m a civil engineer working mainly on road and bridge projects and I like beer- really like beer.

When did you first start training at CrossFit Missoula?
I started in Nov. 2013 after getting punished on a guest day.

How did you first get exposed to CrossFit? Describe your experience.Laura, my wife, convinced me to try a WOD with a ton of pullups on a guest day. I thought I was in decent shape, but my arms were so sore the next three days I could barely straighten them. That was a humbling wake-up call and I couldn’t waste all that soreness, so I signed up.

What’s your CrossFit “super power”? What are you good at?
Low weight, high volume workouts. That’s where the little guys like me can hang in there with the bigger athletes at the prescribed load.

What’s your CrossFit “goat”? What skill or ability are you currently chasing?
Definitely double unders- they kill me. I have improved since I could only do 1-2 in a row, but I still struggle.

What sort of changes have you seen in your body, health and fitness since starting at CrossFit Missoula?
All good. I’m lighter, stronger, and healthier. The nutritional training and advice I’ve received, which I didn’t expect, has played a huge part in getting me to a level of fitness I’ve never reached before.

Please share with us any favorite CrossFit Missoula moments:
A year ago, doing a muscle up seemed far out of reach. Friday I did 10 and I’m working to increase that more. Pretty awesome.

What advice do you have for someone just getting started with CrossFit?
Somewhere around 5-6 months after I started, I hit a plateau and it was a little frustrating. I got more serious about eating right and starting eating in the “Zone.” It made a huge difference in my performance. I would say, don’t ignore or take the nutritional aspects of training too lightly, like I did.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?
I’ve enjoyed the challenge of learning the Olympic lifts, which were new to me. They are way more difficult and intricate than they look on TV.

Which wolf do you feed? An old Cherokee told his grandson, “My son, there’s a battle between two wolves inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, and truth.” The boy thought about it, then asked, “Grandfather, which wolf will win?” The old man quietly replied, “The one you feed.”

The above parable is one of my favorites. Every day we are faced with choices. Each choice offers different paths. Sometimes these paths can lead in nearly opposite direction to one another. You can only choose one direction, and you are not allowed to go back, only forward. Feeling the emotions that stir within you can help to direct you along your path. Are the emotions of jealousy, resentment, greed, etc. dominating your days? Then perhaps it is time to choose another path.

With a running clock, every minute perform 1 lift and add 10 lb.
Start with an empty barbell and snatch for as long as possible.
Once you cannot snatch the weight, clean for as long as possible.
Once you cannot clean the weight, deadlift for as long as possible.
Your score is the heaviest load for the snatch, clean and deadlift.

Our program integrates four or more training cycles into the master plan at any given time. Over time, each training cycle runs its course, and a new one take its place. Our longest training cycle began September 2013 with the introduction of “Hero” Saturdays. Every Saturday, we take on one of the “Hero” Benchmark WODs. Due to the longer duration of many of the Hero WODs, Saturday’s class was lengthened to 90-minutes.

You never know how much you can do, until you try to do more than you are able. Fear of failure and rejection often hold us back from going for the things we want most in life. Improving your ability to move forward with courage into situations that have no guarantee of success takes practice. Make it a daily habit to look for opportunities to risk a little (e.g. register for an upcoming athletic event, answer a sales call, make a sales call, ask the cute guy or gal out for coffee, etc.) Make a game out of it. Recruit a partner and keep score. Loser owes $50, or buys drinks, or donuts, whatever. Get to know your fear. Have fun with it!